How often has an unseeded woman player gotten to/won the Finals in a Grand Slam tournament? | Your athletic trainer Questions › tennis › How often has an unseeded woman player gotten to/won the Finals in a Grand Slam tournament? How often has an unseeded woman player gotten to/won the Finals in a Grand Slam tournament? 1 Of the 4 majors - Roland Garros (clay) seems to me to have produced the biggest share of "one slam wonders" or, players that only one 1 grand slam title. Some recent names that come to mind are Gaston Gaudio, Albert Costa and Andres Gomez. "Who?", you ask? Exactly. To answer your question: Clay: Favors "grinders" and players that are willing to play longer, more drawn out points. Since clay is a slower surface the ball doesn't move through the court as quickly and so players are able to move to get certain shots that wouldn't be as easy to get to on faster surfaces like hard courts. Players that move well and have great footwork also flourish on clay (like Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, etc.).

Clay also tends to favor players from nations where clay is the most common court surface found and so the players "grew up" playing on it and were more familiar with how to play on it. Grass: Favors serve and volley players (though not as much now as it used to) and players... 0 0 2 My answer addresses tennis. Perhaps the most important advice is mental. If you want to improve, do not have an arrogant or superior mindset on court. Focus on improving yourself. If your partner is not able to consistently return your balls, you are essentially limited to polishing your own footwork, technique, accuracy, and feel. Otherwise, there are many additional things you can practice - depending on your own level. For low-level players, I suggest focusing on technique, footwork, and accuracy. For mid-level players, force yourself to work on the strokes you're less comfortable with e.g volleys, slices etc. Eliminating gaping weaknesses is the main obstacle to becoming a high(er)-level player. When you feel more-or-less comfortable everywhere in the court, work more on your feel.

If you are a high-level player you will find it surprisingly difficult to play normally against much weaker opponents, since you'll have far less pace to work with. Given... 0 0 More 3 David Goffin is only 21 years old. It is hard to get past his age. Before his fourth-round match against Roger Federer, he mentioned that he used to have posters of his idol plastered on the walls of his childhood room. Who believed the posters weren’t still up, that he wasn’t still sleeping in that room? With his unaffected face, wide-set eyes, floppy blond hair, bony shoulders, and narrow chest, he makes a baby face like Ryan Harrison look geriatric. Goffin seemed just happy to be there. He was what’s known as a “lucky loser.” Ranked 109th in the world, he didn’t qualify for the main draw, sneaking in only when a player withdrew at the last minute, yet he had somehow made it into the second week at Roland Garros. Goffin hung with Federer — in fact, played better than Federer through the first set, winning it 7-5.

Goffin struck the ball early, fearlessly, and threw himself into his swing with such force that his torso sometimes twisted in the air, his hair flying. He wasn’t afraid... 0 0 More 4 An unassuming 17-year-old Chinese-American Michael Chang, standing at just 5'7", had done well to reach the 1989 French Open fourth round against then three-time French Open winner Ivan Lendl. But Lendl was expected to dish out a tennis lesson. Chang had his back against the wall, and he would do something that became a part of tennis folklore. He baited Lendl with balloon balls and even used the under-arm serve. The normally ice-cold Lendl cracked under the pressure. A week later, Chang became the youngest male Grand Slam winner ever by defeating Stefan Edberg 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. A record that still stands. Please also read The 20 Worst Temper Tantrums in Tennis...

0 0 7 Story highlights Williams trailed 5-3 in first set Muguruza eased past Samantha Stosur Djokovic makes men's final Will face Andy Murray Paris (CNN)In this, a golden era of tennis featuring the "Big Four" and Serena Williams, the final weekend at the French Open could be especially memorable. Indeed it would be the ideal way -- if you're a fan of Williams and Novak Djokovic -- to conclude a tournament where rain, roofs, injured players and schedules have taken up much of the discussion at the expense of forehands, backhands and the like. Williams is a win away from matching Steffi Graf's 22 grand slam titles in the Open Era and Djokovic needs one victory to become the eighth man to tally all four majors. They've both been in that position before, Williams at the Australian Open in January and Djokovic on three occasions in Paris. Williams defeated unseeded Kiki Bertens 7-6 (9-7) 6-4, while Djokovic got the better of another debut grand slam...

0 0 More 8 Four players remain in the women’s singles draw at the Australian Open, and Canada’s 19-year-old Eugenie Bouchard – the tournament’s No. 30 seed – is one of them. When she takes the court in Melbourne at 9:30 p.m. ET, she will be the first Canadian singles player in 30 years to appear in a Grand Slam semi-final. Here is what you need to know: About her semi-final opponent Tonight, Bouchard faces China’s Li Na, the 4th-ranked player in the world and a former French Open champion. One of the most popular and high-earning female athletes on the planet, Li has long been a crowd favourite in Australia - an event often dubbed the ''the grand slam of the Asia-Pacific' - where she has reached the semis four times in the last five years, the finals in 2011 and 2013. In Melbourne this year, Li beat two 16-year-olds in the opening rounds, then No. 26 Lucie Safarova and No. 28 Flavia Pennetta. Bouchard has met the Chinese star just once before.

Li, 12 years Bouchard's senior,... 0 0 More 9 They have a large entry player capacity and the prize money is the most of all regular tournaments. They have prestige and honor and the places they are located in are the most famous and well loved throughout the world. What are they? The Grand Slam tournaments, often called 'majors' are difficult to get where players have to either qualify with a certain ranking or get a 'wild card' (an accepted privilege) to enter the qualifying or main draw rounds. Many players have a few career titles with one of these included and some have a few of these titles or finalist status; while other have never won or gotten close to ever having a grand slam title. Some statistics show that most players who were in the finals of a slam, hardly ever get there again. It was a big year in 2015 for Serena, trying to do her 'Golden Slam' of winning all four in a year, but Roberta Vinci met up with her in the semis and melted those hopes when she sizzled Serena at the 2015 US Open, the first...

0 0 More 10 It is marked 'total grand slam wins', and frames a debate about who to consider the greatest woman player of all time. One name on a very short list of candidates is Serena herself and another is Steffi Graf, who holds the professional-era record of 22 singles titles at the game's four blue riband events. The American is one behind that and, back in September when she seemed as dominant as at any time since turning professional in 1995, looked odds-on to tie the record at the U.S. Open. But, revealing a fragility few had anticipated, she fell short there and did so again in the finals of the two subsequent majors, most recently against Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in Paris on Saturday. For Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, winning number 22 -- and thence upward to the all-time record of 24 held by Australian Margaret Court, who straddled the amateur and professional eras -- is still very much on the agenda. "You can... More 11 "I don't want to talk about how disappointing it is for me," Williams said at the start of a briefer-than-usual news conference.

"If you have any other questions, I'm open for that." Vinci had never before played in a Grand Slam semifinal. She had never so much as taken a set off Williams in four previous matchups. "Today is my day," Vinci told the crowd in an on-court interview. "Sorry, guys!" She said she told herself not to think about having Williams across the net. And Vinci's unusual style, full of slices and net rushes, kept Williams off-balance enough to cause problems and prevent the 33-year-old American from becoming the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a single season. Williams had been pushed to the limit before — this was her 12th three-setter in a major this season — but had managed to win titles at the Australian Open on hard courts in January, the French Open on clay courts in June, and Wimbledon... 0 0 More 13 With an all-Russian ladies’ final taking place last week at the venerable Roland Garros stadium last week for the French Open, Russia should have been steeped in glory. Unfortunately, such was — as is so often the case for Russia — far from the case.

Russian women suffered an amazing, unprecedented humiliation, and then there was their performance on the actual tennis courts of Roland Garros, which was even worse. Russian Dinara Safina should have had to face Ana Ivanovic, last year’s champion, in her quarter-finals match. But she didn’t, as Ivanovic fell apart long before that, in humiliating fashion. Safina should then have had to face Venus Williams, last year’s Wimbledon champion, in her semi-finals match. But Williams, too, was eliminated without Safina needing to see a single one of her deadly serves, fastest on the tour. Failing Williams, Safina should have met the only female Russian player ever to have won more than one grand slam title, Maria Sharapova, but that... 0 0 More 14 Great Britain has not had a Grand Slam champion for almost 75 years now. Andy Murray is probably the one they relied on the most to put an end to this. Murray surely has the talent to do it. But will he wind up on this list forever? As mentioned earlier, you need luck to win Grand Slams, and Murray certainly lacks it.

A certain Juan Martin del Potro can win it the first time but Murray can't win it in three attempts? That has got to say something about luck, people. He was defeated by Federer in the finals of the 2008 US Open and 2010 Australian Open. He could defeat Federer on his day but not on the day of a major final. His latest hiccup was against Novak Djokovic in the finals of the 2011 Australian Open. However, the reason to that might be some awe-inspiring play by Novak. Many cease to blame Murray for his hiccups because he is just 24 and carries the hope of an entire nation every time he walks into the court. True, but that is never going to end until... 0 0 More 15 The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious.[2][3][4][5][6] It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place over two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Final, scheduled always for the second Saturday and Sunday of July respectively. Five major, junior, and invitational events are held each year. Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is also notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a... 0 0 17 These are all of the men's Grand Slam singles finals in the Open Era of tennis.[1] Chronological list[edit] Note that yellow indicates a player's first title (of the era). Tournament seedings are shown after names within parentheses unless unseeded. Wildcards are also indicated in parentheses, though these are unseeded players. Seeded finals[edit] The top two seeds have met in 46 finals, with each seed winning 23 times.

The longest consecutive run of both finalists being seeded is also the current streak of 35 beginning with the 2008 French Open. But this is due to the expansion to 32 seeded players per tournament in 2001. The current streak of top-16 seeded finalists (the prior amount) is 30 starting with the 2009 Wimbledon; the record is 31 from the 1986 Wimbledon through the 1994 Australian Open. All countrymen in final[edit] Seven countries (Australia, United States, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Spain, Argentina)... 0 0 More 18 Novak Djokovic holds all four grand-slam titles and will be seeking to win Wimbledon for the third year in succession when the grass-court tournament takes place over the coming fortnight. Using data from Opta, we take a look at a host of interesting facts and figures relating to the men's singles at SW19. - Djokovic is the second player in the Open Era to win four grand slams in a row after Rod Laver (1969).

The Serbian is the fifth player in the Open Era to win all four slams in his career, after Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. - Djokovic has reached the semi-final stage of 23 of the last 24 slams. The only exception was his loss against Stan Wawrinka in the 2014 Australian Open quarter-finals. - The world number one has not lost against an unseeded player in a slam since he was beaten by Marat Safin in Wimbledon 2008. - Djokovic has won 41 of his last 42 slam matches, including the last 28. His only defeat in the former run... 0 0 tennis | sport | Britannica.com Tennis Roger Federer Tennis, original name lawn tennis, game in which two opposing players (singles) or pairs of players (doubles) use tautly strung rackets to hit a ball of specified size, weight, and bounce over a net on a rectangular court. Points are awarded to a player or team whenever the opponent fails to correctly return the ball within the prescribed dimensions of the court.

Organized tennis is played according to rules sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body of the sport. Mariya Sharapova serving during the 2006 U.S. Open women’s final; she defeated Justine … Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images Tennis originally was known as lawn tennis, and formally still is in Britain , because it was played on grass courts by Victorian gentlemen and ladies. It is now played on a variety of surfaces. The origins of the game can be traced to a 12th–13th-century French handball game called jeu de paume (“game of the palm”), from which was derived a complex indoor racket-and-ball game: real tennis. This ancient game is still played to a limited degree and is usually called real tennis in Britain, court tennis in the United States, and royal tennis in Australia. The modern game of tennis is played by millions in clubs and on public courts.

Its period of most rapid growth as both a participant and a spectator sport began in the late 1960s, when the major championships were opened to professionals as well as amateurs, and continued in the 1970s, when television broadcasts of the expanding professional tournament circuits and the rise of some notable players and rivalries broadened the appeal of the game. A number of major innovations in fashion and equipment fueled and fed the boom. The addition of colour and style to tennis wear (once restricted to white) created an entirely new subdivision of leisure clothing. Tennis balls, which historically had been white, now came in several hues, with yellow the colour of choice. Racket frames, which had been of a standard size and shape and constructed primarily of laminated wood, were suddenly manufactured in a wide choice of sizes, shapes, and materials, the most significant milestones being the introduction of metal frames beginning in 1967 and the oversized head in 1976. Similar Topics racquetball While tennis can be enjoyed by players of practically any level of skill, top competition is a demanding test of both shot making and stamina, rich in stylistic and strategic variety.

From its origins as a garden-party game for ladies in whalebone corsets and starched petticoats and men in long white flannels, it has evolved into a physical chess match in which players attack and defend, exploiting angles and technical weaknesses with strokes of widely diverse pace and spin. Tournaments offer tens of millions of dollars in prize money annually. History Origin and early years There has been much dispute over the invention of modern tennis, but the officially recognized centennial of the game in 1973 commemorated its introduction by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873. He published the first book of rules that year and took out a patent on his game in 1874, although historians have concluded that similar games were played earlier and that the first tennis club was established by the Englishman Harry Gem and several associates in Leamington in 1872. Wingfield’s court was of the hourglass shape and may have developed from badminton . The hourglass shape, stipulated by Wingfield in his booklet “Sphairistiké, or Lawn Tennis,” may have been adopted for patent reasons since it distinguished the court from ordinary rectangular courts.

At the time, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was the governing body of real tennis, whose rules it had recently revised. After J.M. Heathcote, a distinguished real tennis player, developed a better tennis ball of rubber covered with white flannel, the MCC in 1875 established a new, standardized set of rules for tennis. A Game of Tennis: Fact or Fiction? Meanwhile, the game had spread to the United States in the 1870s. Mary Outerbridge of New York has been credited with bringing a set of rackets and balls to her brother, a director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. But research has shown that William Appleton of Nahant, Massachusetts , may have owned the first lawn tennis set and that his friends James Dwight and Fred R. Sears popularized the game. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent An important milestone in the history of tennis was the decision of the All England Croquet Club to set aside one of its lawns at Wimbledon for tennis, which soon proved so popular that the club changed its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.

In 1877 the club decided to hold a tennis championship, and a championship subcommittee of three was appointed. It decided on a rectangular court 78 feet (23.8 metres) long by 27 feet (8.2 metres) wide. They adapted the real tennis method of scoring—15, 30, 40, game—and allowed the server one fault (i.e., two chances to deliver a proper service on each point). These major decisions remain part of the modern rules. Twenty-two entries were received, and the first winner of the Wimbledon Championships was Spencer Gore. In 1878 the Scottish Championships were held, followed in 1879 by the Irish Championships. There were several alterations in some of the other rules (e.g., governing the height of the net) until 1880, when the All England Club and the MCC published revised rules that approximate very closely those still in use. The All England Club was the dominant authority then, the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) not being formed until 1888. In 1880 the first U.S. championship was held at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club.

The victor was an Englishman, O.E. Woodhouse. The popularity of the game in the United States and frequent doubts about the rules led to the foundation in 1881 of the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association, later renamed the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association and, in 1975, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA). Under its auspices , the first official U.S. national championship , played under English rules, was held in 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island . The winner, Richard Sears , was U.S. champion for seven consecutive years. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Tennis had taken firm root in Australia by 1880, and the first Australian Championships were played in 1905. The first national championships in New Zealand were held in 1886. In 1904 the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia (later of Australia) was founded.

The first French Championships were held at the Stade Français in 1891, but it was an interclub tournament that did not become truly international until 1925; the French Federation of Lawn Tennis was established in 1920. Other national championships were inaugurated in Canada (1890), South Africa (1891), Spain (1910), Denmark (1921), Egypt (1925), Italy (1930), and Sweden (1936). In 1884 a women’s championship was introduced at Wimbledon, and women’s national championships were held in the United States starting in 1887. Outstanding players Tennis in the 1880s was dominated by the remarkable twin brothers William and Ernest Renshaw . William won the Wimbledon singles championship seven times, on three occasions defeating his brother in the final. Ernest was victorious once, and in partnership they won the doubles championship, first played at Oxford in 1879, seven times. In the 1890s public interest began to wane.

The Wimbledon Championships showed a financial loss in 1894 and 1895; the All England Club committee turned back to croquet to revive its flagging fortunes. The popularity of Wimbledon and tennis were reestablished by two more brothers: Reginald and Laurie Doherty . Reginald won the Wimbledon singles from 1897 to 1900. Laurie won from 1902 to 1906, took the U.S. championship in 1903, and won a gold medal in the Olympic Games in 1900. The early 20th century The first international team competition was the Davis Cup , officially called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy, which was donated by U.S. doubles champion Dwight Davis in 1900. Only Great Britain challenged the first year; it was defeated by the United States, Davis himself playing on the victorious team. There was no challenge in 1901, but in 1902 a strong British team that included the Doherty brothers went to America.

The United States retained the trophy, but the following year the Doherty brothers helped Britain win the cup, which it retained the next three years. Dwight F. Davis. Colorsport Professional and open tennis As tennis began to establish its popularity, there was a need for professionals to coach and to organize, but, unlike real tennis, there were no competitions in which professionals could play. This changed in 1926 when Charles C. (“Cash and Carry”) Pyle, a successful sports promoter in the United States, offered Suzanne Lenglen $50,000 to go on a professional tour of America playing Mary K. Browne, who had been U.S. singles champion from 1912 to 1914. He also signed four male players. The tour, played in major arenas, drew large crowds and was a financial success. For the next 40 years, pro tennis consisted primarily of barnstorming tours that featured the reigning champion playing a recently signed amateur champion. Starting in the 1930s, many of the amateur champions became barnstorming professionals.

After World War II, Jack Kramer became the pro champion and in the early 1950s took over promotion of the pro tour. He kept raiding the amateur ranks, signing such stars as Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, Lew Hoad, and Ken Rosewall. They made money with the one-night stands, but their matches were virtually unreported. Although the traditional tournament circuit was avowedly amateur, leading players were paid substantial guarantees “under the table” in addition to expenses. For more than four decades there was discussion of having “open” competition between amateurs and pros to end the hypocrisy of “shamateurism,” but proposals were always defeated by conservative elements within the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF—later the ITF). In 1967, however, two new professional groups were formed: the National Tennis League, organized by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George MacCall, and World Championship Tennis (WCT), founded by New Orleans promoter Dave Dixon and funded by Dallas oil and football tycoon Lamar Hunt . Between them they signed a significant number of the world’s top players, professional and amateur.

In 1967 a British proposal for a limited schedule of open tournaments was voted down by the international federation, but the British LTA refused to accept the verdict. In December 1967, despite the threat of expulsion from the ILTF, the LTA voted to abolish the distinction between amateurs and pros in their tournaments. This revolutionary step forced an emergency meeting of the ILTF in March 1968 in which 12 open tournaments were approved. The era of open professionalism in tennis dawned in 1968. The open era The first open tournament was the British Hard Courts at Bournemouth in April 1968, where the champions were Ken Rosewall and Virginia Wade. The first open Wimbledon was a joyous occasion, as many past champions who had been stripped of membership in the All England Club when they turned professional were welcomed back. The total prize money was £26,150 ($62,760), of which £2,000 went to men’s singles champion Rod Laver and £750 went to women’s singles winner Billie Jean King. The singles titles at the first U.S.

Open, with a total purse of $100,000, were won by Arthur Ashe , the sport’s first black male champion, and Wade. Within two decades the major championships had multimillion-dollar purses, and top players could expect to earn in excess of $1,000,000 a year on the court alone. Laver became the first player to sweep the major titles a second time and the first to do so as a professional. Arthur Ashe returns a ball during the U.S. National Championships in 1965. © Bob Gomel—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images The transition years from quasi-amateurism to full-fledged professional tennis were rife with political disputes and lawsuits for control of what had become a big-money sport. Both male and female players formed guilds—the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which in 1986 became the Women’s International Tennis Association (WITA). Previous player unions had been ineffective, but the ATP showed itself a potent political force when the majority of its members boycotted Wimbledon in 1973 in a dispute over the eligibility of the Yugoslav pro Nikki Pilic.

The women’s union proved similarly unified. The women have had a separate pro tour, except at the major championships, since 1971. The first few seasons of open tennis were ruled by players who were products of the old system and reflected its behavioral standards and norms. These included the compact, classical Rosewall , the Australian John Newcombe, and the Americans Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith. As television, in America and later worldwide, became an increasingly significant force in tennis, a new breed of flamboyant and often flippant , cocky, and quick-tempered player developed. Among them was Ilie Nastase —a dark, handsome, mercurial Romanian noted for his rapid mood swings. While winning the 1972 U.S. Open, the 1973 French Open, and four Masters titles, he created chaos and controversy on the court with colourful, and occasionally off-colour, tantrums and tirades. He was perhaps an influence on Jimmy Connors , a brash American whose aggressive, blood-and-guts, all-court style and feisty temperament captivated audiences whether they loved or loathed him. In 1974 Connors won Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and the U.S.

Open. In an intensely competitive era that produced short careers, Connors enjoyed extraordinary longevity at the top. He won Wimbledon again in 1982, the U.S. Open four more times, and the WCT Championship in 1977 and 1980. Following the fiery Connors as the dominant player was the relatively cool Björn Borg , who led Sweden to its first triumph in the Davis Cup in 1975. Practically unbeatable on slow clay, he won the French Open six times between 1974 and 1981 and remarkably adapted his game to fast grass, adding a sledgehammer serve and underspin approach shot, to win Wimbledon five years running , 1976–80. No player had done that since the champion had to play through the draw, starting in 1922. The American John McEnroe ended Borg’s Wimbledon reign in 1981 and beat him in the 1980–81 U.S. Open finals.

Between 1979 and 1984 McEnroe, a torrid-tempered left-hander of exquisite athleticism and racket control, won Wimbledon three times, the U.S. Open four times, the Masters three times, and the WCT Championship four times. Sweden’s Björn Borg returning a shot at Wimbledon in 1976, the first of his five consecutive … Leo Mason The balance of power in men’s tennis shifted back to Europe in the 1980s. Borg inspired a new wave of players in Sweden . A sophisticated junior-development system created a group of Swedish players—led by 1982, 1985, and 1988 French Open champion Mats Wilander. Another European country with a long tennis tradition that reached new heights in the 1980s was Czechoslovakia . One of the foremost players and coaches in Europe in the 1920s and ’30s was the Czech Karel Kozeluh. Czechoslovakia produced men’s Wimbledon champions Jaroslav Drobny in 1954 and Jan Kodeš in 1973.

Among the players to come out of Czechoslovakia’s player-development system and become dominant in the 1970s and ’80s were Martina Navratilova , who became a U.S. citizen; Hana Mandlikova, who became an Australian citizen in 1987; and Ivan Lendl, who took up residence in the United States. The European tennis boom of the 1980s also swept through West Germany , which produced Boris Becker , who won the Wimbledon singles in 1985 at age 17 (the youngest man and first unseeded player to do so), and Steffi Graf , who in 1987 ended Navratilova’s five-year reign as the top-ranked woman in tennis and in 1988 won the Grand Slam, becoming the first woman to do so since Margaret Court in 1970. Boris Becker. Simon Bruty/Getty Images Graf’s emergence also ended an extraordinary streak by the American Chris Evert , who had won at least one of the Grand Slam singles titles for 13 consecutive years, 1974–86, an unprecedented feat.

A paragon of backcourt consistency and controlled temperament, Evert was the perfect contrast in both style and personality to several net-rushing rivals: the Australian Evonne Goolagong , who won her first Wimbledon in 1971 at age 19, Billie Jean King, and Navratilova, whom Evert played in 13 Grand Slam finals in one of the game’s greatest rivalries. Evert, probably more than anyone, popularized the two-handed backhand, and she made a steady baseline game the prevalent style of a whole generation of women players. During the 1990s Steffi Graf collected 14 of her 21 career Grand Slam singles titles. Tall and athletic, Graf used powerful ground strokes and excellent court coverage to dispatch opponents. Her primary rival during this period was Yugoslavia’s Monica Seles , who collected seven Grand Slam titles between 1990 and 1992. Though Graf retired in 1999, the women’s tour still boasted exceptional competition and talented players, such as Martina Hingis of Switzerland (winner of five major titles before the age of 20) and American Lindsay Davenport, who won titles at the U.S.

Open (1998), Wimbledon (1999), and the Australian Open (2000). At the turn of the century, sisters Venus and Serena Williams of the United States emerged as a new force on the women’s tour. Serena won the U.S. Open in 1999, 2002, and 2008; the French Open in 2002; Wimbledon in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2012; and the Australian Open in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010. Venus won Wimbledon five times (2000–01, 2005, 2007–08), the U.S. Open twice (2000–01), and an Olympic gold medal in tennis (2000). The sisters were credited with popularizing the sport among African Americans. The men’s game increasingly emphasized athleticism and power in the 1990s.

Pete Sampras of the United States best epitomized this style of play, using devastating serves and ground strokes, along with exceptional agility, to claim a record-setting 14 Grand Slam titles; the record was later surpassed by Roger Federer of Switzerland. Players such as Patrick Rafter of Australia, Sweden’s Stefan Edberg, and Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov also claimed their share of major titles during the decade, but Andre Agassi surfaced as Sampras’s primary rival. Agassi won singles titles at the Australian Open (1995, 2000–01, 2003), the French Open (1999), Wimbledon (1992), and the U.S. Open (1994, 1999) and finished the 1999 season as the top-ranked player on the tour. In the early 21st century, Federer emerged as one of the game’s dominant players. He won an unprecedented 17 men’s singles Grand Slam championships—seven Wimbledon titles (2003–07, 2009, and 2012), five U.S.

Opens (2004–08), four Australian Opens (2004, 2006–07, and 2010), and one French Open (2009). One of Federer’s main rivals was Rafael Nadal of Spain. Although initially thought of as a clay-court specialist—he captured a record seven French Open titles (2005–08 and 2010–12)—Nadal also won at Wimbledon (2008 and 2010), the Australian Open (2009), and the U.S. Open (2010). Andre Agassi, 1999. Clive Brunskill—Allsport/Getty Images Organization and tournaments The ITF and the national associations that constitute it govern tennis worldwide; they oversee international competitions such as the Davis Cup and Federation Cup and tennis in the Olympic Games, which was restored to medal-sport status for the 1988 Games—the first time since 1924. The professional circuits were governed from the late 1970s by the Men’s and Women’s International Professional Tennis councils.

These groups, made up of representatives of the ITF, players, and tournaments, oversee the international calendar, the implementation of rules and codes of conduct, and the training and supervision of tour officials. The councils work closely with the ATP and WITA, which supply a number of services and benefits to players and tournaments and maintain rankings that provide the basis for entry into tournaments and seedings. Until 1974, when South Africa won by default over India, only four nations had won the Davis Cup: Australia, Great Britain, France, and the United States. The championships of those four countries are the traditional “major” tournaments that make up the Grand Slam. Wimbledon in Britain is the oldest, having been played on the lawns of the All England Club since 1877. The French championships , played at Stade Roland-Garros in Auteuil, on the outskirts of Paris , are recognized as the world’s premier clay-court tournaments. The U.S.

championships were played on grass from their inception in 1881 through 1974; the next three years they were played on a synthetic clay surface at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills , New York, and in 1978 the tournament moved to the rubberized asphalt courts of the USTA National Tennis Center in nearby Flushing Meadow Park. The Australian Championships were played on grass in several cities until 1968, when they moved to Melbourne; in 1988 they moved within that city to the synthetic courts of the new Australian National Tennis Centre. Justine Henin returning a shot during the 2007 U.S. Open. Xinhua/Landov The principal team events are the Davis Cup, Federation Cup, and Wightman Cup (U.S. versus British women). The Davis Cup series consists of five matches played over three days: two singles, one doubles, then two “reverse” singles. The Davis Cup draw was played in two zones from 1923 through 1965 and in four zones from 1966 through 1980.

Starting in 1981, the top 16 teams competed in a World Group and all other participating nations in four zones. The Federation Cup , inaugurated in 1963, is contested at one site over a one-week period, each series consisting of three matches: two singles and a doubles. The Wightman Cup alternates between U.S. and British sites and consists of best-of-seven matches: five singles and two doubles. Page 1 of 2

Question: Which unseeded player won this year's Ladies Australian Open Tennis Championship?
Answer: SERENA WILLIAMS